Found The Patek Philippe Owned By The Founder Of Coca-Cola, And Other Ultra Cool Pateks Now On Exhibit At Tiffany New York

There is, as we've mentioned elsewhere, and as many collectors know, a very long and rich common history between Patek Philippe and Tiffany, which goes all the way back to 1851. It's a remarkable history with a remarkable legacy, with Tiffany-signed Patek Philippes forming a significant group of watches and often commanding a premium at auction over non-Tiffany signed models, thanks to their relative rarity. Patek Philippe and Tiffany have just opened a remarkable exhibit: a selection of unusual and in some cases unique Patek Philippe watches and pocket watches, from the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva. They will be on show at the Tiffany flagship in New York for the next six months or so, and are a must-see for pretty much anyone interested in horology – it's exceedingly unusual for Patek museum collection timepieces to be seen anywhere outside the Patek Philippe Museum.

There is, as we've mentioned elsewhere, and as many collectors know, a very long and rich common history between Patek Philippe and Tiffany, which goes all the way back to 1851, as we've explored elsewhere. It's a remarkable history with a remarkable legacy, with Tiffany-signed Patek Philippes forming a significant group of watches and often commanding a premium at auction over non-Tiffany signed models, thanks to their relative rarity. Patek Philippe and Tiffany have just opened a remarkable exhibit: a selection of unusual and in some cases unique Patek Philippe watches and pocket watches, from the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva. They will be on show at the Tiffany flagship in New York for the next six months or so, and are a must-see for pretty much anyone interested in horology – it's exceedingly unusual for Patek museum collection timepieces to be seen anywhere outside the Patek Philippe Museum.

Reference 1526 With Special Dial

Let's start off with something big. The reference 1526 Perpetual Calendar may be the single most wished-for watch on the planet and given the prices they command at auction (and the rarity with which one shows up for sale) most of us can go right on wishing. They were made in very small numbers – just 210, between 1941 and 1952. This one is case no. 628,740, made in 1942 and cased in 1943; the movement according to Patek's archives is the caliber 12'''-120, perpetual calendar with straight line lever escapement. Phillips had one on deck last May that hammered at CHF 305,000, or about $315,000. It's a purebred example of why Patek enjoys the reputation it enjoys. The 1526s we've seen generally have alternating Roman numerals and dots around the dial (the dots are the odd numbers) and, unusually, this one has Arabic numerals all the way around.

Here's something in a very different vein. This is a Patek Philippe deck chronometer. As we all know, keeping track of time at sea is critical to accurate navigation (in particular, to determining longitude). Knowing the exact time when the position of a celestial body was observed was essential, but marine chronometers are far too fragile to take up on deck. The deck watch was designed to serve this purpose – highly accurate themselves, their daily rate would be compared to that of the ships chronometer below. This one would have been a thoroughbred among thoroughbreds, though. The ébauche was by Victorin Piguet (one of the top high precision movement and complicated movement specialists in the Vallée de Joux, once upon a time). This 59 mm (cased) watch contains a 21 ligne movement with lever escapement, Guillaume balance and overcoil balance spring, and it was entered, in 1908, in the Geneva observatory competitions, where it received a Bulletin de Première Classe (first class rating) and won Fourth Prize overall. The Guillaume balance, by the way, is a type of temperature compensating balance, but one much more precise than the standard steel-and-brass balance; its inventor, Charles Guillaume, would go on to win the Nobel Prize for developing the alloys known as Invar and Elinvar, which show almost no dimensional changes at all with temperature changes, and which would prove essential in precision timekeeping. A watch made to serve a single purpose, and it looks it. Adjusted for the Observatory trials by Jules Golay-Audemars.

A Very Early Patek Phillipe & Cie Pendant Watch

Patek Philippe originally started out in 1839 as Patek, Czapek & Co; Czapek, a watchmaker from Warsaw, eventually withdrew from the firm to start his own company, and in 1845 his place was taken by Adrien Philippe. The company became Patek Philippe & Co. in 1851. The watch you see here is, according to Patek's archives, from the period 1850-1852, and is therefore one of the very first watches from the period in which Adrien Philippe became a partner. It's an extremely luxurious watch, with an engraved yellow gold case, finished in a very rich, saturated blue enamel front and back, and there are 28 six pointed stars on the front of the case, and 32 on the back, with a diamond in each one. The cut, by the way, is a rose cut; this is a cut in which the diamond has a flat base and though the cut is currently enjoying a bit of a revival, it's still generally considered an antique cut. The modern brilliant cut is a later innovation and was the first to be based on scientific optical principles – but it didn't come along in its modern form until Marcel Tolkowsky calculated the light path for a brilliant cut in 1919. It contains a 14 ligne movement, with a cylinder escapement, by Aubert Frères; this is a fantastic example of very elegant, extra flat watchmaking from the mid-19th century.

"The Americas" Wristwatch, Cloisonné Enamel Dial Showing North And South America, Ref. 2481

This is another very exceptional piece: an enamel-dial reference 2481. The combination of a great manufacturer and an enamel dial is often a magical one for collectors, and this is especially true for Patek Philippe which has a very long history of making some of the most finely done enamel decorated watches – well, ever, right down to the present. One of the most famous enamelists of them all is the reclusive Suzanne Rohr, whose specialty is miniature enamel paintings after the work of famous painters and her fluency runs the gamut from Old Masters to Impressionists and beyond; for a really incredible example, check out this pocket watch with a cover after Renoir's "Two Sisters," made in 1985, and which hammered for $353,000 last June.

Enamel dialed Patek Phlippe wristwatches tend to perform pretty darned strongly as well, of course – for instance, we reported here on a reference 2481 that hammered at Christie's in 2011 for an almost unbelievable $464,000. The one shown here depicts North and South America, in cloisonné enamel. The technique involves taking very fine gold wire, and carefully bending it into shape; you then place enamel inside the cells you've formed, and fire the whole thing. This watch was made in 1956-57 and the fine gradation of color across the dial are characteristic of only the best enameling. Caliber 27 SC movement; 36.9 mm yellow-gold case.

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A Wristwatch With Two Hour Hands, Reference 2597 HS

This is one of the more modern watches in the exhibition: ref. 2597 HS, which is the earliest version of what today is called the Patek Philippe Travel Time watch. The reference was launched originally in 1958 and the design is by Louis Cottier, aka the guy who invented the modern world time wristwatch (you can read a bit more about the man and his work here, and here.) The world time complication is wonderfully sophisticated but the dual time watch shown here is undoubtedly much easier to read and more intuitively understandable. In this version of the watch, with cal. 12-400 HS, the hour hand can be independently adjusted in one hour increments forwards or backwards by means of the pushers in the case flank. "Firsts" of complications from Patek attract the attention you'd expect at auction and as an iconic watch of the early jet age, this one is no exception; here's an example that went for $98,263 at Christie's in 2012. This one was made in 1961; 35.3 mm diameter gold case, with a blued steel hand for the second time zone.

Wristwatch With Perpetual Calendar, Chronograph, And Special Dial Ref. 1518

The reference 1518, AKA the other most-often-wished-for watch on the planet, was Patek's first perpetual calendar with chronograph, and was also the first series produced perpetual calendar chronograph ever made. Performance of this reference at auction is what you would expect – in good to excellent condition, with unusual features and good provenance, this is the sort of thing that can easily happen. Less unusual references don't necessarily carry an expectation of shooting to a million and a half of your favorite dollars, but they still run easily into the mid-six figures; if you're interested in finding out more, you can read all about this reference, as well as Patek's other perpetual calendar chronos, in our Reference Points guide. The watch you see here is unusual in terms of the positioning of the Arabic numerals. Generally, with this reference, the numbers all stand straight up, with their vertical axes parallel. In this watch however, the numbers lie with their vertical axes aligned with the radius of the dial. It's certainly not a feature we can recall seeing on any other ref. 1518; it's definitely unusual and possibly unique although we can't say for sure. Another interesting feature is the difference in size between the 0 and the 1 in the 10 – we're not sure how to account for it. This particular watch was completed in 1942, only the second year of production for the 1518. It has a 35 mm case, and is in yellow gold with caliber 13-130.

A Dress Watch, With Instantaneous Perpetual Calendar In Apertures And Off-Center Dial

This is a great example of an approach to dial design that we still find in some modern Patek Philippe references; it's easy to see a bit of a connection, for instance, with some of Patek's other calendar references with apertures, like – oh, I don't know, maybe this one. This pocket watch is only 10.1 mm thick, at a diameter of 45.3 mm, which is very thin for its era; the watch was made according to Patek's archives between 1928 and 1939, on an ébauche by Victorin Piguet. A perpetual calendar with instantaneous indications is always a bit of a technical tour-de-force due to the need to adjust the jumping indications so that loading them with tension from the mainspring doesn't adversely affect accuracy – even more so in this era.

A Gentleman's Wristwatch, Formerly The Property Of Asa Griggs Candler, Founder Of The Coca-Cola Co. And Mayor Of Atlanta, Georgia From 1916 to 1918

This one has a very interesting provenance; it's the personal wristwatch of none other than Asa Griggs Candler. Candler (1851-1929) bought the formula for Coke from its inventor, John Pemberton, in 1888, for the sum of $550 (now those were 1888 dollars, but, you know, still). The Coca-Cola Company was incorporated in 1889 by Candler, who made, obviously, quite a return on his investment; he was a banker, as well as a builder (there is a Candler Building in Atlanta and another one in New York) and became mayor of the city of Atlanta in 1916. His watch was sold to him in 1924, and it's a great example of high end watch manufacturing from the Deco era. The case is engraved with a very clean geometric motif, with the lines filled with black enamel and the case is 26 mm wide and 41.5 mm, lug tip to lug tip. It's quite thin, at 8 mm, and despite its elegance, the movement is high grade and capable of serious accuracy, with a bimetallic compensating balance and Breguet overcoil balance spring. An unusual feature of the case, by the way, is the hinged back, which is a feature much more often seen in pocket watches than wristwatches (the overwhelming majority of watches from this era had snap-on case backs).

The exhibition will be available to view for about the next six months at the Tiffany Patek Philippe Boutique, 727 5th Avenue and it's a chance to see some incredibly rare, beautiful and unusual watches straight from the Patek Museum without having to go to Geneva. I will say, though, it'll whet your appetite for a trip to the Patek Museum itself; as remarkable as these watches are, they're a tiny fraction of what's behind the doors of the Patek Museum in Geneva, which houses not only Patek watches and clocks, but also a truly remarkable collection of thousands of timepieces spanning over five centuries.